I’m not really supposed to try to film this, but here it is. I try to click around in this pre-release Honeycomb Motorola Xoom tablet pre-production prototype instead of only letting it play the animated prepared UI videos from the gallery. Google is doing some awesome work in making software optimized for tablets. Like Archos has been doing it, they decided there’s no need for hardware Android buttons on Tablets. Other aspects of this UI suggests UI design that’s really being designed for high resolution touch screen devices.
Category: Chip provider
Nvidia Project Denver
Posted by – January 6, 2011
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announces Nvidia Project Denver. Nvidia is investing big time in ARM Processor development. As Tegra1 and Tegra2 have already been quite huge contribution to the ARM ecosystem, now Nvidia is announcing it’s next big project called Project Denver, to build ARM Processors not only for Mobile Computing applications, but also for full desktop computing, cloud computing servers and even for super computers.
Related articles
- Project Denver: Nvidia Is Finally Making Its Own Processor [Nvidia] (gizmodo.com)
- Nvidia unveils ‘Denver,’ its first CPU for PCs (infoworld.com)
- Project Denver puts Windows on Nvidia chips (ces.cnet.com)
- NVIDIA chief confirms Windows coming to ARM chips (electronista.com)
- NVIDIA’s “Project Denver” to Build Custom CPU Cores for Personal Computers & Supercomputers (slashgear.com)
Nvidia’s Mike Rayfield talks Project Denver, Tegra2 devices
Posted by – January 6, 2011
Do you wonder what’s the status of software on the Toshiba AC100, what delayed Tegra2 devices, what to expect from Nvidia Project Denver? Mike Rayfield, General Product Manager of the mobile business unit at Nvidia provides some informations on these things and more. I’ll look for much more informations at the manufacturers booths in the coming days.
Samsung Infuse 4G at CES 2011
Posted by – January 6, 2011
For now they don’t want to show the new Super Amoled Plus screen yet. And they don’t say on this video if this uses a new Honeycomb or the ARM Cortex-A9 Orion processor already.
Lenovo LePad Qualcomm Snapdragon Tablet U1 that docks in Intel core i5 laptop
The Lenovo ARM Powered tablet is $500 and the optional Intel laptop dock part is something like $800. Lenovo had shown this last year with a previous Snapdragon and Thunderbird’s customized Ubuntu Linux on the ARM part which I filmed then, but now they updated the ARM part to Android 2.2 on Qualcomm’s 8X50A is 1.3ghz 45nm processor (which they might upgrade to Qualcomm’s dual-core processor by the time this tablet comes out with Android Honeycomb), they say it’ll upgrade to Honeycomb, and it uses Lenovo’s LeAndroid UI layer (similar to LePhone UI that is available on the Chinese market, notice Paul Otelinni at Lenovo’s Aquanox party in the background of my last year’s LePhone video) as default home replacement.
Related articles
- Lenovo to Show First Tablets at CES (pcworld.com)
- Lenovo tablet line to be out in full force at CES (arstechnica.com)
- Lenovo to show first tablets at CES (infoworld.com)
- Lenovo bringing two tablets to CES 2011: U1 Hybrid resurrected? (slashgear.com)
Toshiba Tegra2 Tablet at CES 2011
Posted by – January 5, 2011
Unnamed for now, it’ll be released once Honeycomb is open sourced and available for others than Motorola for implementation. It’s got a 1280×800 capacitive 10.1″ touch screen, 5 megapixel camera and more. It’s being developed by a different group at Toshiba than the one working on the Folio-100 tablet that I filmed at IFA about 4 months ago.
Related articles
- Toshiba Announces Tegra 2-Powered Honeycomb Tablet, Lets Its Name Remain A Mystery (androidpolice.com)
- Toshiba Tegra 2 Tablet Gears up for CES 2011; Release Likely During First Half of This Year (devicemag.com)
- Toshiba Hasn’t Finished With Its Tegra 2 Android Tablets [Tablets] (gizmodo.com)
- Toshiba announces unnamed Tegra 2-powered Android tablet, waits only for Honeycomb (engadget.com)
- Toshiba Tegra 2 Android Honeycomb tablet gets pre-CES preview (slashgear.com)
- Toshiba previews Honeycomb tablet, won’t ship until June (electronista.com)
Freescale i.MX 6 is dual-core and quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor
Posted by – January 4, 2011
Category: Freescale
Here´s to more fun from Freescale, they just unveiled their ARM Cortex-A9 processor platform the i.MX6 series, available in dual-core and quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 cores running at up to 1.2 GHz each, five times the performance of Freescale’s current generation of processors that are used in devices, such as the Amazon Kindle, Ford SYNC, HP Photosmart eStation, etc. Up to 200 million triangles per second 3D performance (like a PS3 in the pocket..).
Freescale is positioning these low power chips for both consumer and automotive applications. Although a primary target is tablets where Freescale has seen significant interest from APAC vendors in using its flexible, low-power embedded solutions to meet the demand in the growing white box tablet market. Freescale processors now power 11 Android-based tablets on the market (but 23 tablets powered by Freescale will be shown at CES) in addition to supplying the processors for three out of the four most popular eReaders sold worldwide.
The product series is comprised of the single-core i.MX 6Solo, dual-core i.MX 6Dual and quad-core i.MX 6Quad processors. Key technical features of the series include:
· Industry-leading four-core design
o Up to four ARM® Cortex™-A9 cores running at up to 1.2 GHz per core
o Up to 1 MB system level 2 cache
o ARMv7, Neon, VFPv3 and Trustzone support
· Multistream-capable HD video engine delivering 1080p60 decode, 1080p30 encode and 3D video playback in HD
· Exceptional 3D graphics performance with quad shaders for up to 200 MTPS
· Separate 2D and vertex acceleration engines for uncompromised user interface experiences
· Stereoscopic image sensor support for 3D imaging
· Interconnect: HDMI v1.4 w/ integrated PHY, SD3.0, multiple USB 2.0 ports w/ integrated PHY, Gb Ethernet w/ integrated PHY, SATA-II w/ integrated PHY, PCI-e w/ integrated PHY, MIPI CSI, MIPI DSI, MIPI HSI, and FlexCAN for automotive applications
· Support for the VP8 codec
· Support for one of the broadest ranges of major operating system platforms in the industry
· Optional integration of an ePaper display controller for eReader and similar applications
Look forward to my full video coverage of i.MX6 at CES in the coming days.
Source:
Related articles
- Freescale i.MX 6: up to 1.2GHz quadcore chips for tablets/smartphones (slashgear.com)
- Freescale announces i.MX 6 processor series, wants quad cores in your smartphone (engadget.com)
- Freescale ups ante for tablets, phones with quad-core i.MX 6 (electronista.com)
Rockchip RK2818 and RK29 demonstrated and explained
Posted by – December 27, 2010
Rockchip released their next generation of ARM9 based processor RK2818 and are teasing their next generation ARM Cortex-A8 RK29 to be shown by CES. RK2818 can be made with up to 1ghz frequency, supports more and faster RAM memory, comes with a fast DSP and GPU core to accelerate graphics and user interfaces. This new Rockchip processor makes it possible to run up to Android 2.1 on cheaper tablets such as the new $149 (possibly $179 with margins) capacitive Archos 7 Home Tablet v2, and have them perform better for web browsing than their previous generation ARM9 RK2808 processor, video playback and other things are also improved. Rockchip’s next gen RK29, to be showcased at CES, they say is ARM Cortex-A8 better than Apple A4, with 1080p encode/decode, 30 million triangles.
Broadcom BCM2157 to enable $75 Android phones within 3-6 months
Posted by – December 26, 2010
- Image via Wikipedia
It’s ARM11 at up to 800Mhz, HVGA 480×320 or WQVGA 400×240, 3G integrated on the chip, 65 nm digital CMOS process, support for Android 2.2 and up. That is what is claimed by Broadcom representatives in a Fortune Magazine CNN post.
To be clear, That sub $100 price is not the cost of materials, it is the suggested retail price after the manufacturers (and carriers) have taken their profits.
This could enable Android to accelerate into first position in worldwide Smartphone sales by next year in front of Symbian even, generating most of possibly as many as 500 million smartphones to be sold next year (up from 269 million smartphones sold in 2010 and 173 million in 2009).
Thus as Android might have been activating 30 thousand smartphones per day (less than 1 million per month) back on 1st January 2010 and has officially been announced to be activating 300’000 smartphones per day (9 million per month) by 1st January 2011 (900% growth rate year over year), if Android expansion accelerates as can be expected with this type of platform to reach sub-$100 and sub-$75 unlocked sales prices to reach China, India and other developing markets during 2011, it may reach an activation rate of closer to 1 million units per day by 1st January 2012 yet another 300% growth rate in a year.
Within a year, the smartphone could thus become the dominant fastest selling device to access the Internet in front of the laptop. While cheaper Android devices means the developing world can finally afford access to smartphones (better than Symbian stuff), it also means carriers in rich countries may have to come up with new tricks if they want to continue making huge profits on wireless phone services. As sub-$100 Android phones can be bought, consumers in rich countries will also decide to buy those with pre-pay services, more and more data centric, and that could trigger the disruption of the “carrier-subsidized” Android super phone carrier model. Which model is not as much about a carrier “subsidizing” a phone than it is about a consumer over-paying on 2-year contracts on a phone device presented as overpriced if bought unlocked.
If you thought Android’s huge growth was impressive while most phones are bought with 2-year $2500 contracts, just wait for Android’s continued growth once most of them will be bought below $100 without any contracts needed.
Source: broadcom.com
Found via: cnn.com
Related articles
- Broadcom announces dual-core BCM2157 processor, promises high-end features for cheap Android phones (engadget.com)
- Broadcom Readying Chip for Low-cost Android Smartphones (pcworld.com)
- Broadcom outs new Android smartphone platform (slashgear.com)
iWave launches iW-i.MX51 SOM
Bangalore based embedded design house iWave Systems Technologies has recently released High end, low cost, Low power SOM (70mm x 70mm) based on Freescale’s i.MX51 (Cortex-A8 ) Multimedia application processor. This Platform runs Win CE 6.0 R3, Android2.1 and Linux 2.6.28 Operating Systems.
This integrated, high performance, Low power module can be used for a wide range of applications in Industrial, Medical, Security/surveillance, Digital Signage and Automotive. The key features of this module are i.MX51/800MHz processor, on board 128MB/512MB RAM, 128MB/2GB NAND Flash, Micro SD with Edge and Expansion connectors for supporting Dual LCD/Camera, Multiple USB/SD/SDIO, TV, SPI, I2C etc interfaces. Any product development can be developed in about 10 weeks time.
Features/Specification:
1. i.MX51 Processor, PMIC, 512MB DDR2, 2GB Nand Flash, MicroSD,
2. 230 pin edge connector: Ethernet MII interface, Two MMC4.0/SD Mem 2.0/SDIO1.2, TwoI2C Interfaces, Two USB2.0 Host, Two UART Interfaces, SPI interface, SSI (Audio) Interface, CSI Interface-1, Display Interface-1, One Wire interface, TV-OUT, GPIOs, Power,
3. Expansion Connectors: NAND Flash (Expansion), Processor EIM Bus (16 bit multiplexed bus), 4×4 Keypad interface, CSI interface-2, Display Interface-2.
Contact: mktg@iwavesystems.com
More info: iwavesystems.com
anandtech.com: Benchmark of top ARM Cortex-A8 SoC GPUs
Posted by – December 19, 2010
Check out this interesting GLBenchmark 2.0 at anandtech.com, they compare the performance in benchmarks for following devices:
– Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy S using SGX540
– myTouch 4G and T-Mobile G2 using Adreno 205
– iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPad using SGX535
– Nokia N900 and Motorola Droid using SGX530
– Nexus One, Optimus One and HTC EVO 4G using Adreno 200
Not in the benchmark, Droid X, Droid 2 and the Archos Gen8 Tablets have SGX535.
It will be interesting to see what will happen once possibly more competition comes with ARM Mali-400 in the upcoming ARM Cortex-A9 dual-core processors and where its performance might be. Also I’d like to know what kind of performance Tegra 2 does for this 3D stuff. What Qualcomm Adreno 220 is cooking for its upcoming dual-core Snapdragons. And what 3D on-die GPU Marvell is going to use (supposedly does 200 million triangles per second) in its upcoming 628 Tri-core processor.
Find the full GLBenchmark 2.0 article over at: anandtech.com
Related articles
- Samsung Hummingbird declared fastest chip by GLBenchmark 2.0 (intomobile.com)
- LG Optimus 2X Preview: The Most Powerful Android Phone (brighthub.com)
netbooknews.com: Kinpad i600 7″ Android Tablet
Here’s a Freescale 800MHz 7″ Tablet with AMD z430 graphics. AMD z430 may be the same graphics that Qualcomm Snapdragon uses called Adreno 200, that is for example in the Nexus One and HTC EVO 4G. This 7″ Kinpad i600 is being sold at $399.
This video was released at: netbooknews.com
netbooknews.com: Asus Eee Note EA800 Unboxing
Also see my interview with the product manager at Computex here. Asus has chosen to release this reflective based grayscale 8″ wacom touch LCD based e-reader. It has a user interface based on Qt and embedded Linux on a Marvell processor.
This video was released at: netbooknews.com
Huawei IDEOS X5 and X6 Android phones released
Posted by – December 12, 2010
After the low cost $150 2.8″ capacitive Huawei IDEOS U8150 (also known as Huawei Ascend?), Huawei is now also bringing larger screen perhaps a bit higher end X5 at 3.8″ and X6 at 4.1″ screen sizes, also including a 1Ghz processor and a HDMI output. It will be interesting to see at what prices those are going to be sold at unlocked, if Huawei plans to provide cheaper alternatives to the high end Android phones.
Source: androidguys.com
Via: androidcommunity.com
Related articles
- Huawei Brings Ideos X5 and X6 Android Phones to Australia (pocketnow.com)
- Huawei announce two new Android phones: the Ideos X5 and X6 (mobilecrunch.com)
- Huawei Ideos X5 Preview: First Look (brighthub.com)
- Huawei Ideos X6 Review: First Look (brighthub.com)
- Huawei IDEOS X6 smartphone: 4.1″, HDMI and HSPA+ (slashgear.com)
- Huawei IDEOS X6 and X5: Stock Android 2.2 (FroYo) on surprisingly high end hardware [HSPA+, Snapdragon] (intomobile.com)
Texas Instruments OMAP4440 ARM Cortex-A9 at 1.5Ghz, improves Web Page load times by 30% over OMAP4430
Posted by – December 11, 2010
Category: Texas Instruments
TI just unveiled their most advanced ARM Cortex-A9 processor yet in the 1.5Ghz Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A9 OMAP4440 processor and SoC platform. Performance improvements over their OMAP4430 includes:
– 1.25x increase in graphics performance
– 30% decrease in webpage load time
– 2x increase in 1080p video playback performance
– 50% increase in clock speeds, as fast as 1.5 GHz per ARM® Cortex™-A9 MPCore™
I’m hoping this means this processor is definitely fast enough for full 1080p h264 high profile at the highest bitrates in MKV containers. 30% faster web page loading times is important for Laptop, Desktop and Tablet form factors with large high resolution screens for this processor to be optimal choice for Chrome OS, Honeycombe Tablets and Google TV type devices.
TI’s Remi El-Ouazzane, vice president, OMAP platform business unit said following in their official press release:
We seized an opportunity to enhance the platform capabilities driving the OMAP4430 processor’s success today. As OMAP4430 processor-based products hit the market in first half 2011, we’re arming our customers with a huge performance boost via an easy migration to OMAP4440 processor for their next wave of exciting devices. The resulting user experiences will radically impact how consumers continue to integrate mobile technology into their daily lives.
OMAP4440 processor: Primed for upgraded mobile user experiences
The OMAP 4 platform is a highly-optimized system-on-chip (SOC) leveraging two ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore general-purpose processors, reaching speeds of 1.5 GHz per core, complemented by two ARM Cortex-M3 cores to power-efficiently offload time-critical and control tasks. High-performance multimedia capabilities are provided by programmable cores including a POWERVR™ 3D graphics engine, TI IVA 3 for high-definition/multi-standard video, TI image signal processor (ISP) for high-quality/high-megapixels imaging, TI low-power audio processor and TI digital signal processor (DSP) based on the TI C64x DSP for natural user interface and signal processing innovations optimized for mobile applications.
The OMAP 4 platform efficiently supports concurrent, high-performance processing and high-definition multimedia with dual, high-bandwidth memory channels. The platform is secured with TI M-Shield™ security, and delivers high performance within the small power budget of mobile devices by leveraging TI SmartReflex™ power and performance management technologies. As the second member of the OMAP 4 product family, the OMAP4440 processor’s upgraded features and benefits include:
| Feature* | Benefit |
| Two ARM® Cortex™-A9 MPCores™ optimized to 1.5 GHz each | 50% increase in overall performance; 33% reduction in webpage load time |
| End-to-end graphics acceleration enhancement (triangles per second, fill rate and shaders) | 25% increase in overall graphics performance |
| Support for HDMI v1.4 3D modes | Full 1080p HD S3D playback to 3D TV |
| 1080p60 video format support | 2x higher performance video playback |
| Support for up to two 12-megapixel cameras in parallel | Higher stereoscopic resolution encode enabling stereo photography, which meets the same resolution previously experienced only with 2D photography |
| IVA 3 multimedia hardware accelerator | Industry’s highest quality video playback at low bit rates |
| Complete pin-to-pin hardware and software compatibility | Easy migration from the OMAP4430 processors |
*Comparative data is relative to the OMAP4430 processor’s performance
The OMAP4440 processor is uniquely positioned to support the widely anticipated mobile video teleconferencing experience. For example, successful mobile video teleconferencing requires a few key components directly addressed by the following OMAP4440 processor features:
| Mobile video teleconferencing component | OMAP4440 processor-enabled feature |
| High-quality mobile video conferencing | Improved video quality in low-light conditions; video stabilization |
| Chat software (i.e., Skype or Google Talk) | Video codec support includes H.264, VP7, H.263, SVC, and more |
| Peer-to-peer (1 local user with one other user) chat functionality | 1080p mobile video conferencing |
| Multi-chat (1 local user with up to 4 other users) functionality | 720p resolution with stereo audio support |
| Cloud access for simultaneous application support (e.g., browsing the web while chatting or document sharing) | Optimized symmetric multiprocessing architecture to deliver low latency and high bandwidth support |
Availability and pricing
The OMAP4440 applications processor will sample in first quarter 2011, with production expected by the second half of 2011. These products are intended for high-volume wireless OEMs and ODMs and are not available through distributors.
Related articles
- TI OMAP4440 processor debuts: 1.5GHz dualcore, 3D 1080p and more (slashgear.com)
- TI’s OMAP4440 processor brings two blazing Cortex-A9 cores to the table (engadget.com)
- Texas Instruments announces dual-core 1.5 GHz OMAP4 for second half of 2011 (androidandme.com)
- TI’s dual-core 1.5GHz OMAP 4440 promises 1080p 3D for phones (electronista.com)
Marissa Mayer and Dave Burke demonstrate Gingerbread at LeWeb 2010
Posted by – December 11, 2010
Here’s some filming of Marissa Mayer’s Q&A with Michael Arrington and David Burke’s Nexus S Gingerbread demostration of Google Maps 5.0 Vector Graphics and 3D features at LeWeb 2010, you can watch the full official video here.
Windows Phone 7 Developer Ecosystem presented by Charlie Kindel at LeWeb 2010
Posted by – December 10, 2010
Charlie Kindel is the General Manager of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 Developer Ecosystem. He tells us about some of the features of the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 platform. You can watch Charlie Kindel’s Q&A at LeWeb 2010 here.
Suli SL-7, 7″ Capacitive-Glass RK2818 $249 Android Tablet
Here’s an exclusive unveiling for an upcoming new Android tablet design made by Suli International Co., Ltd. It’s a nice combination of the new higher performance Rockchip RK2818 (ARM9 600mhz + 550mhz new high performance DSP) with Glass type 7″ Capacitive multi-touch touch screen. It supports 3G USB dongles on the USB host connector. Plays back mp4 and rmvb video at up to 1280×720 (bitrates/high profiles not yet confirmed). The Rockchip RK2818 improves web browsing from RK2808. At $249 this one is thus positionned $150 cheaper than the ARM11 Qualcomm MSM7227 3G-enabled Foxconn 7″ Tablet (also known among other brands as Viewpad 7).
(comparison graphics provided by Suli International)
Suli International also says they have a 8″ capacitive Android tablet coming in 2 weeks using either the Amlogic or the next generation ARM Cortex-A8 based Rockchip RK29 design!
Here are some pictures of the Suli SL-7 tablet:
Full specs: 
New smart refrigerator based on ARM
The brazilian subsidiary of Electrolux, together with ProFUSION Embedded Systems, have developed a new smart refrigerator called Infinity I-Kitchen that runs on a Freescale i.MX25 processor and was developed using Linux and the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries.
Here are features that could be provided in these intelligent fridges:
1. One-click wirelessly add missing ingredients to your Android device’s shopping list. Could also automatically place order for refill or for new ingredients with remote groceries delivery service.
2. It should somehow know what you have in the fridge. Preferably RFID would be used, but since that is not yet available. Somehow it should know. Maybe a built-in camera could figure from normal bar codes scanning, or manual input can be simplified.
3. Generate suggested recipes based on ingredients available, based on perrumption dates, based on calculating a healthy varied diet for each member of the house hold.
More info here, with links to screenshots and a virtual reality demo.
Archos 70 Internet Tablet on Leo Laporte’s This Week In Google episode 69
Posted by – November 19, 2010
As I told you in yesterday’s MacBreak weekly 221 post, last Sunday as I was in the Silicon Valley to video blog the ARM Technology Conference for my http://ARMdevices.net site, I had fun traveling up to Petaluma and bring Leo Laporte some of the Archos Gen8 tablets (70, 43 and 32) so he could test them out and let his Twit gang also play with them. So that they could compare those with Apple and Samsung tablets. The time code in this “This Week In Google” episode 69 where they start talking about Archos is around the 5th minute.
You can discuss this video in the forum: http://forum.archosfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=40903
